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Published: April 11th 2007
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CHEESE!
Me, Byam, Michelle, Kari, and Jordan Well, I was supposed to be going to Guatemala for Semana Santa with Jill, Alisa, and Meg. Semana Santa is the week leading up to Easter. We were given this time off school. Almost the whole city stops for at least 4 days. Every seemed closed.
Anyways, plans changed. Alisa decided to stay in Comayagua and spend time with Donray, and Meg decided to go up to La Ceiba to spend time with her boyfriend Mac (who is teaching at a school near La Ceiba). I felt horrible for Jill but because I would have the opportunity to still see Guatemala when I travel up to Belize at the end of the year, I decided that I would rather get in some dives. I hadn't been diving since Christmas and missed it. Plus I would have a chance to head back to Roatan and see my dive friends from Christmas.
Kari already had plans to head to Roatan, stay at the same hotel and dive with the same dive shop so I asked if I could join her and plans were arranged.
I ended up catching a bus Thursday RIGHT after school and got all the way
The Crew
Me, Byam, Michelle, and Kari to La Ceiba by about 8pm. Kari ended up having troubles with a different bus that she had made reservations on, so I spent the night at a hotel by myself Thursday night in Ceiba. Caught the earliest ferry to Roatan in the morning and was able to make it to Roatan, chat with Ryan, check into the hotel, have lunch with Andrea, AND dive the 2pm dive.
Felt so good to be back. I missed those guys. Gave them all a HUGE hug. Was pumped to see them.
Scott has gone back to Canada, and Tom went back to Scottland but I was able to see Byam, Andrea, Ryan, Val (Ryan's wife), and Michelle. Rich (Michelle's boyfriend, who lives on the island, was off on business). They had a new divemaster named Jordan, two divemasters in training named Kate and Matt (couple), and a new instructor named Mark.
It wasn't quite the same trip as Christmas. I had more fun at Christmas. I think it was the group of people that I enjoyed at Christmas more. I missed having Tom, Scott, Jody, and Derrick around. I also think I enjoy travelling by myself. Only one person
The Beach
Got busy because of all the travellers for Semana Santa to worry about. No one to report to or check in with. It's nice. This was fun too... just a different trip.
Anyways, we had lots of nights out at the usual bars... Sundowners, Purple Turtle, and FUBAR. Also had one night we were supposed to go watch Ryan and Rachel play live music but it got cancelled so a bunch of us hung out at Byam's place and had a little concert on his porch. They even had me sing some opera. It was a really fun night.
Had a nice dinner with Byam one night too. Time for the two of us to catch up on what had been going on the 3 months since I was there.
Now for the diving... I did 6 dives while I was there. LOVED being back under the water. Saw some turtles, rays, and TONS of fish. I also did a special SHARK DIVE! Yep... Michelle, Andrea, and I went to a resort about a 20 minute drive from West End and went swimming with the sharks. There's a huge drop off coral wall where a bunk of Carribean Reef Sharks live. This company feeds them daily so
The Water
"Darling it's better, down where it's wetter, UNDER THE SEA!" the sharks come up onto this area for feeding. They're not agressive sharks so they won't attack, although only the females come up apparently. The males feel threatened by the divers. GIRL POWER! lol. These sharks still have to catch their own food, as the small bucket is not enough, so they are wild sharks.
Anyways, we took a boat out into the really rough waters on the other side of the island, got in, following ropes down a descending line, got down to about 70 feet and then kneeled on a sand patch. I guess the sharks hear the boat because they immediately started coming. Our guide was carrying a bucket with fish heads in it and the sharks were swimming around us all. There were about 12 of us on the dive. I tried to count all the sharks. SO hard when they keep moving. We figured there had to have been about 20 of them. They swam SO close to us too. I wasn't as frightened as I thought I would be. Once the bucket was opened, they dove at the bucket and within about 30 seconds the bucket was empty and the sharks were gone.
Leafs Fans
Found out Sundowners bar is owned by a guy whose mother is from Honduras and his Dad is from Canada. This sign is posted on the side, right near the sign on the road. Thought of you Dad! There were a couple sharks that hung nearby though. Pretty cool. We swam around a bit, saw a HUGE Green Moray Eel and then head up to the boat. Cool dive. I thought I had done 25 dives total now. Turns out I counted wrong and I've now done 26 dives. Wow. I love diving. Heard Belize is beautiful too. Looking forward to that at the end of the year.
What else? Overall a fun trip. I was attacked by the sand flies though and had just about enough of being eaten alive so it was kind of nice to head home as well.
Funny that I feel like the gringo ghetto really is home now.
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Dana
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I have matching bites!!!! lol. Grr sandflies grr. Missing shoo as always, Dana